The Florida sun is hot, but our residency may be hotter. It has been a groundbreaking few months around here.

In May, our very own Dr. Alex Waldman presented his study, “Controlled Substance Prescription Rates Are Not Associated with Decreased Discharged Patient Satisfaction Scores,” at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) national conference in Las Vegas. The abstract was selected as top 100 of the 500+ presented at the conference! In July, our residency family was finally completed with three full classes as we welcomed our eager and impressive interns. In August, 10 of our residents attended Symposium by the Sea. Senior chief residents Dr. Alexandru Barabas and Dr. Alex Waldman represented North Florida in the annual Case Presentation Competition. Dr. Barabas presented the North Florida case of high-altitude pulmonary edema, and Dr. Waldman discussed a competitor’s case of hemorrhagic cholecystitis. North Florida also had a presence in the first SonoRace. Drs. Emmanouil Kiriakopoulos, Joshua Middleton and I competed in the inaugural ultrasound competition and won first place as well as best costume.

All in all, North Florida continues to grow and thrive. To name but a few of our future plans, we anticipate competing in the SAEM SonoGames, starting an official ultrasound group, both locally and regionally, and sending a cohort to ACEP. Lastly, I could not mention all of this without recognizing and thanking our amazingly dedicated faculty. ■